Parisian Literary Salon

creating community through reading and discussing literature

Paris Upcoming Salons November and December

Filed under: Upcoming Events — toby at 12:42 pm on Sunday, October 10, 2010

Paris based Salon news

Yes, I know it has been quiet on the Paris Salon front…I have been reflecting hard on the purpose and future of the Paris- based Salon group as my work has intensified in London. I have found our work together challenging, enlightening, broadening if there is still the desire and interest and willingness to commit, then I will happily continue to offer Paris-based Salons. I am proposing a weekend intensive Salon for the last weekend of November: one offering is Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, the other is the indomitable King Lear (descriptions under ‘What Might We Read”). My friend Jonathon Ingram will facilitate a December Salon on Dead Souls- see his description below- and he would bring a wealth of Russian literature knowledge and passion to the study. You will need to register for these Salons and pay by euro cheque (45 euro for the five hour study) three weeks in advance so I know that there are enough participants to make it worth everyone’s energy and attention. To confirm your place in the Salon, send me an email confirming your participation and I will send you further details and the address to which to post the cheque. I look forward to our exuberant work together…
November Salons

King Lear Friday November 26th 6-10:30 PM
White Teeth by Zadie Smith Sunday November 28 4-8:30 pm

December Salons

Dead Souls Saturday December 11th 5-10 PM
The Great Gatsby or Beloved (Descriptions on the Salon website- VOTE NOW!!) Sunday December 12th 4-8:30 pm

December 11th
From Jon (I am including his description of Eugene Onegin as well as Dead Souls- if Dead Souls goes, we may try for a Salon double header of EO in 2011):
“First things first: there are a few Russian titles I could propose (so much to choose from!) First of all there’s Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Pushkin. I insist on using the Nabokov translation (Princeton UP, 1991). As for the wonder of this book.. well, almost too much to summarize in less than a book of my own! In short, Pushkin is to Russian what Dante, for example, is to Italian: he was the first serious author to write in Russian rather than French, and had to invent much of the written language he used, just as Dante did for the Divine Comedy. Otherwise the text itself is one of the most intricately structured works I teach: a verse novel consisting of 8 chapters of roughly 50 sonnets each. But even that is oversimplifying as Pushkin invented an offshoot of the sonnet known still as the Onegin stanza. Goodness, makes me breathless even now to consider.

If not that, I’d be equally keen to speak about some of Gogol’s works. Dead Souls (Everyman, 2004) is his best known work and it’s on occasion just breathtaking, but it also sort of loses its steam toward the end, which is pretty sad. For me, his most brilliant work is a little story called “Evenings On A Farm Near Dikanka”, which can be found in The Complete Tales of N.G. Vol I (Chicago UP, 1985). In these cases, indeed in all cases of Russian literature, I really only trust Pevear & Volkonsky to translate without draining these wonderful texts of their soul. I’m not sure it’s a popular choice but in my opinion, Gogol is one of the greatest writers the world has produced. He writes in prose but with poetic flourishes such as repeated images, sometimes inverted, and wonderful sort of “false paths” that can trick his readers. His metaphors can drift into half-page digressions, yet he manages to weave this all together without taxing his readers too much. Wonderful!”

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